Latest Carriers Headlines

All the headlines from our Carriers Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Strong earnings keep insurers’ stock prices stable; M&A activity remains flat

Jul 24 2006 // Stock Prices: Insurers’ stock prices remained relatively stable during the second quarter of 2006. In a time of the year when stock prices tend to fluctuate depending on the weather forecast, companies were able to...

N.Y. blasts ‘anemic’ workers’ comp anti-fraud efforts

Jul 24 2006 // New York officials have denied a requested 7.5 percent hike in workers’ compensation premiums and criticized what they termed carriers’ ‘anemic’ efforts in combating fraud in doing so. The decision...

Mass. Fair Plan plays catch-up on reinsurance, rates

Jul 24 2006 // The biggest increases are in store for coastal Cape Cod, where the Fair Plan has become the leading property insurer rather than the insurer of last resort as intended. News Currents Last summer when the Massachusetts Fair...

Riding out soft and hard market cycles with quality relationships

Jul 24 2006 // Having quality relationships with clients takes commitment and discipline, but it pays off in reliability and client retention. Analyzing the economic rhymes and reasons of soft and hard market cycles in the insurance...

N.J. auto restrictions: a troubling turn

Jul 24 2006 // You don’t need to conduct any kind of sophisticated market research in order to understand the effects of New Jersey’s 2003 auto insurance reform law. Just drive down the New Jersey Turnpike, where you...

Case Law Watch

Jul 24 2006 // ARBITRATION Allstate Insurance Company v. Great American Insurance Company (Super. Ct. N. J. June 15, 2006) Ruling: Insurance company could contest adverse arbitration finding where plaintiff insurance company improperly...

P/C market takes hold of rapidly developing identity theft solutions

Jul 24 2006 // In today’s marketplace insurers are moving towards a case-managed, victim advocacy approach with far less emphasis placed on the restoration of expense reimbursements. Identity-related fraud is a virulent crime, with...

Take the pollution out of the D&O policy

Jul 24 2006 // Is your directors and officers policy polluted? Shareholders and environmental groups are taking a closer look at the environmental disclosures made by public companies. The U.S. General Accounting Office issued a report...

N.Y. lawmakers disappoint on property insurer; avoid workers’ comp reform

Jul 24 2006 // The New York State Legislature’s most recent session will be remembered by insurance lobbyists more for what did not get accomplished than for what did. The Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-led Assembly...

‘Adequate rate for the risk’ a big concern for industry executives

Jul 24 2006 // The question of how to structure property insurance rates adequately in coastal zones while still making it affordable for people to live and work there is becoming an increasingly important one to insurers and consumers...

Case Law Watch

Jul 24 2006 // Actions and Proceedings Continental Insurance Co. v. The Pamona Redevelopment Agency (California Court of Appeals, May 15, 2006, Unpublished) Ruling: On this appeal, the excess insurer, Continental, sought to intervene in...

Optional federal charter is needed

Jul 24 2006 // Editor’s note: The following excerpt is edited from an oral statement made by Joseph J. Beneducci, president of Fireman’s Fund at the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee’s July 11 hearing...

News Currents

Jul 24 2006 // California agency approves change in auto insurance law A state administrative office approved changes to California’s insurance law, clearing the way for regulations that will force insurers to base premiums on...

Miscellaneous Health Care Facilities: Risk mixing and matching

Jul 24 2006 // Someone once said “change is inevitable,” and in the health care arena that truism rings a bell. It wasn’t so long ago that the only place a person would go for immediate treatment was the emergency room...

Crist, Fritschi & Paterson underscores value of relationships

Jul 24 2006 // Best Practices is an Insurance Journal column that highlights how some of the nation’s top-performing agencies run their operations. Insurance Journal Publisher Mark Wells recently interviewed Jack Fritschi, CEO of...

News Currents

Jul 24 2006 // Reforms pushing California workers’ comp rates, losses down The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has completed its report summarizing insurer loss and premium experience through March...

Editor’s Note: Exemption protection

Jul 24 2006 // The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee last month received testimony on whether to continue the insurance antitrust exemption contained in the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act. The law placed responsibility for insurance regulation...

Insurers Blocked in Deposing Abuse Victims in Western Mass.

Jul 24 2006 // A Superior Court judge in Springfield, Mass. has for now blocked more than 100 people who say they were molested by priests from having to tell lawyers about the abuse they say they endured. Judge John Agostini ruled...

Reforms pushing California workers’ comp rates, losses down

Jul 24 2006 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has completed its report summarizing insurer loss and premium experience through March 31, 2006, which suggested legislative reforms are...

Optional federal charter is needed

Jul 24 2006 // Editor’s note: The following excerpt is edited from an oral statement made by Joseph J. Beneducci, president of Fireman’s Fund at the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee’s July 11 hearing...